When I first interviewed sisters-in-law Lisa and Gina Marchese about their Walker's Point pizza place at 1100 S. 1st St., it was December, 2006 and the restaurant was still a work in progress.

It finally opened for business in April, 2007 and for the last seven months I have heard nothing but great things about the food.

I recently dined at the Olive Pit with a group of friends and decided that it does in fact live up to its reputation as one of the best restaurants to open this year.

Way before the food arrived I was taken with the warmth of the restaurant. Literally -- the place was noticeably toasty, probably thanks to the roaring fire it had going in the fireplace. It was an instant relief from the blustery fall wind outdoors.

No less than three people greeted us and told us to sit wherever we'd like. Our server was friendly and patient, despite members of our party showing up at different times and our incessant chatting, which led to our repeated failure to look at the menus.

We finally ordered two pizzas -- one regular and one large, which was enough to feed six people -- Dan's vegan pizza and a create-your-own.

Olive Pit is one of only three restaurants (that I know of...) to offer soy cheese as an option, with Classic Slice and Mama Di Marini's being the other two. Dan's vegan pizza comes with an olive oil, garlic and herb-brushed crust with green and black olives, mushrooms, artichokes, tomatoes, Serrano pepper and, of course, soy cheese for $18.

Fake cheese sometimes has a tendency to melt funny or unevenly so they don't offer it in the large, but the pizza we got was wonderful. To me, it tasted creamy and savory, almost like cream of mushroom soup. It was amazing.

The thin but soft flakey crust is truly one-of-a-kind and worth trying. Olive Pit has really carved out its own special niche in the local pizza scene and I'm excited to taste more of its menu in the future.